


The Damsel & His Prince

by malicioussocks



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, Theatre
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-02
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21626524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malicioussocks/pseuds/malicioussocks
Summary: Ryan finds a drunk Jeremy one night after work and decides to walk him home, thinking that will be the last time they'll see each other. But in the following days, they just can't seem to stop running in to each other.
Relationships: Jeremy Dooley/Ryan Haywood
Comments: 21
Kudos: 83





	1. Energy Drinks?

**Author's Note:**

> For a fun drinking game, take a drink every time I get something wrong about the american school system or how college works or how broadway shows are made - I could go on.

College is a weird place, that is a fact Ryan was aware of without the experience, but even a couple months into the new year as it is, it still finds new ways to surprise, confuse and concern him. He's not sure what he expected though; throw a bunch of sleep deprived almost adults into one place, force them to get up every morning and sprinkle in some crippling debt and mental issues and that's pretty much the life of a college student for two to seven years. 

On Ryan's long list of 'weird college encounters', this one isn't new but is nonetheless concerning to him. Ryan works shifts at the campus library and yeah he gets the occasional person asking for some weird titles, but seeing a short drunk man standing in the courtyard outside looking on all accounts lost and confused is a situation Ryan is never expecting nor prepared to deal with. He squeezes his eyes shut for a moment just to be sure his eyes are working properly - it is 1am on a Monday night following a 10 hour shift after all. But yeah, there he is, still standing there. 

“Hey!” Ryan calls across the distance that separates them.

The man looks around quickly, almost sending himself stumbling but eventually spots Ryan and waves back, “Oh, hi!”

He doesn’t sound drunk, maybe he’s high? Ryan frowns. “Do you need help finding your way home?”

“Ah… yeah actually. That’d be great, thank you,”

Making his way over he asks, “Where you tryna get to?” 

“The Chelford building?”

“Oh, that’s right near me, I’m in Alster. This your first year here?”

“Oh that’s cool, and yeah is it that obvious?”

Again he doesn’t sound drunk and he doesn’t look high, he could just be lost but the permanent flush across the man's cheeks makes Ryan think alcohol. Maybe he didn’t actually drink that much. “Nah, it took me a while to figure it out too, don’t worry,”

Standing still it seems is a feat the man could manage, but walking is proving difficult for him, his eyes are trained on the ground and he is so incredibly focused on where his feet are going, Ryan on the other hand is consciously trying to not stare at the spectacle that is this drunk man. But there's a quiet thud and he's now on the ground, having walked into a light post.

Ryan tries not to laugh, honestly, but there's something about the dazed look on his face that's setting him off. Desperately trying to contain his giggles he leans over the other man and tries to ask if he's okay.

"You're like… my knight in shining armour"

"I wouldn't go that far, if anything I'm just your every day peasant. Come on, up you get," Ryan heaves him to his feet, an incredible accomplishment considering how limp the other man is.

"Nah man, you're totally a knight. No one with a face like that is a peasant,"

"Somehow you made a compliment sound like an insult and I'm not sure how you've done it, you're not concussed are you?"

"You've got like a royal face, like a prince… or a king!"

"Definitely concussed," Ryan mutters, "come on, let's get you home,"

…

Once they arrive at the drunk man's building, having taken twice as long as it normally took, Ryan found his key with little help from the man himself and opened the door for them to shuffle inside. Inspecting the key card for the room number Ryan discovered his name is Jeremy Dooley. Ryan supposed he should probably stop referring to him as the drunk guy now. 

On the way to the correct dorm room Ryan was silently debating if he should push Jeremy inside, leave, and hope he doesn't choke on his own tongue; or go in with him and make sure he has some water and gets in bed. But looking down at this tragedy that is falling asleep in his arms as they stumble down the halls he figures the small breach in privacy probably won't be unwelcome. 

"You know, the sad part about this is that you won't even remember any of it come morning,"

"I'll remember, don't you worry your pretty little head," he tiredly slurs. 

Tapping the card, Ryan was faced with yet another complication. The room is a double and Jeremy's bed is about three feet off the ground which with all the sheets and pillows piled on top is over half the man's height. Not to mention there doesn't seem to be a step or anything sitting around to help, however there is a mini fridge shoved under the frame. Propping Jeremy against the bed he opens door to find… energy drinks?


	2. Gay Shit

"Hello and good morning Big Pine College! My name is Jeremy Dooley and with me is the lovely Lindsay Jones, how are you?"

If Ryan was a dog he imagines his ears would have pricked up for sure but as it is he just sits up a bit straighter and tries to block out any other noise except for the crackly radio static. Some kid in the cafeteria is blasting the morning campus radio station and that voice is probably the last voice he is expecting to hear this early.

"I am doing good Jeremy, because today is a beautiful sunny Thursday morning, it is currently 7:13am and I hope you're all ready because we've got a jam packed day for you today, first up is a little something to get your day started and then we'll be right back with some love letters,"

"Speaking of, this one is dedicated to my knight in shining armour from Monday night, it's What Is Love by Haddaway!"

Ryan sits with widened eyes for a moment before ducking his head and continuing to shovel cereal into his mouth. As the song plays he subtly tries to survey the reactions of anyone who may be listening but honestly can't tell from this distance. Then the song ends, and he's finished his breakfast but still he sits.

"Now Jeremy, before we get into any love letters from the listeners, I wanna know the story of Monday night, who is your knight in shining armour?"

"Oh boy, I really hope he's not listening right now but here we go…"

By the end of Jeremy's tale Ryan is properly flushed, his face hot from the unwanted pigment in his skin. His head is ducked and he feels like every pair of eyes in the room are on him despite full well knowing they have no idea who he is and probably just don't care either. Of course, Jeremy had thrown in some extra stuff and played it up a bit to seem more interesting but it was nice to hear it from his point of view, which is a lot of borderline sexual descriptions of what he looked like and the struggle that was heaving him into bed. 

And yeah okay, here's the thing, Ryan doesn't normally listen to the radio, let alone the campus station but Jeremy and Lindsay are actually pretty funny and entertaining and in the following days he finds himself listening to them whenever they're on together, if just to know which song Jeremy has dedicated to him that morning. But then something weird happens, people start sending in asks wanting to find Jeremy's mysterious 'knight' and so begins the hunt. Every segment that Jeremy hosts he reads off peoples suggestions and possible clues as to who he [Ryan] could possibly be.

By this point Ryan's 'weird college encounters' list is getting pretty long but there is always room for more, especially when you have an assignment due in the morning that you haven't finished and you find yourself fresh out of diet coke at 2am. The 24 hour convenience store isn't too far from Ryan's dorm so he pulls on a jumper and begins the treck over, if he's lucky his friend Geoff will be working and he can say hello. 

The door chimes as he walks in and Ryan makes a beeline for the fridges in the back, barely paying attention to anything else, he is craving the fake sugar like some kind of soda addict. Pulling out a few litre bottles of the stuff (they had a sale okay) he makes a detour for some chocolate but finds himself frozen at the end of the isle. Half way down the row of shelves, in front of the chocolate, is none other than Jeremy Dooley, the radio host and drunk damsel in distress singing what sounds like bohemian rhapsody under his breath and doing a crappy rendition of a dance he's not familiar with. Ryan's brain goes into a panic and figuratively slams the flight button, suddenly he is rushing from the store but not before spitting out a startled curse which Jeremy heard. Ryan hopes he didn't recognise him but also knows his luck isn't that good. It's only when he's about half way home, still clutching his 4 litres of diet coke that he calms down enough to process it, then his pocket chimes with a notification. 

_ Geoff: you still owe me for those sodas _

_ Geoff: and you can forget the sale, it's full price for you buddy _

Shit…

The next morning the knight in shining armour hunt had produced a Twitter hashtag and Jeremy proudly announced he'd made progress over night and suddenly his name was everywhere. Who is the mysterious Ryan? It was like an off brand Where's Wally (Where's Waldo?). Trust Geoff to rat out his name to the first person that asks. He needs better friends.

But against his better judgement Ryan changes his Twitter handle to James Haywood and follows Jeremy anyway. This is very quickly becoming a Cinderella story in its own right, which is fitting because Ryan has a rehearsal of the same fairytale to get to. The play is a musical of a slightly adapted version of Cinderella with a script written by the theatre class. And with no real prowess in songwriting what they'd done was adapt pre-existing Broadway musical songs to fit theirs. So now they had a Cinderella musical featuring almost every other popular musical the class could name. Someone had described it as if 'someone took Watch Mojo's top 10 songs from musicals and tied them together with a less than beautiful bow.' It's not pretty and it doesn't really make sense but as he said before, what can you expect from a bunch of sleep deprived almost adults.

So with the writing and the planning out of the way, casting was next and boy was that difficult. Ryan didn't audition for a lead roll and he didn't really want a lead roll, he was happy with a background character, maybe a few speaking lines; but what ended up happening is him being cast as the prince. Landing him with a tonne of dialogue, including a monologue, a solo song and to top it off an on stage kiss. Talk about an easy elective class.

It wasn't that Ryan was averse to kissing women, he just liked kissing people he intended to date, not someone he barely knows and has to see in class every week. He would also like to reiterate, he doesn't  _ want _ to kiss her but when she remarks, 'it's like kissing my brother'? yeah that hurt a bit. But with a bruised ego aside, Ryan throws his entire being into rehearsals, if just to impress the teacher. 

He should have predicted it, but it still catches him off guard when he overhears some of the girls talking about Jeremy and the mysterious Ryan everyone is raving about. That's when the guy playing one of the adapted mouse characters calls across the stage to him.

"Oi, Ryan! Walked any drunk guys home recently?"

Ryan forces himself to keep a level head and replies calmly, "What about me makes you think I would willingly go outside?"

"Yeah that's fair, any idea who it could be?"

Ryan just shakes his head this time and goes back to reading the script, willing his heart to calm down. His friend Jon who sits beside him suddenly pipes up for all the hall to hear.

"You know what this play is missing?" Pause for effect, "gay shit,"

Looking around at the cast, they all seem to be considering his input. It would certainly throw a spanner in the works on time management. No, scratch that, if they change to script now, it would send their scheduling so off course they'd be lucky to make it on stage. That might be a bit dramatic but the prospect of a script change now has Ryan reeling, his heart rate picking up again. 

"That wouldn't be… too difficult," the lead girl pipes up. "How much of a statement are we trying to make?"

"I was thinking big, like lead role big,"

Ryan snaps his eyes over to his friend again and silently send daggers his way. Jon makes eye contact with him and winks.

"If you wanted to kiss Ryan so bad, why didn't you just say so!"

And that's how Ryan went from kissing someone who thought of him as a brother in a very straight musical, to kissing his friend Jon in the same musical but this time altered to incomprehension. The plan is to have a kind of Gaston and LeFou-esk relationship between the prince and royal advisor and as the prince chases Cinderella the king's advisor chases the prince. It's all decidedly  _ not _ Cinderella anymore, but Ryan eventually finds himself enjoying it and having fun despite having to kiss his friend multiple times a week.


	3. Let Me Get Your Number

College is hard. And that's why Ryan found himself sitting in an 8am lecture, waiting for the professor and just praying he doesn't show up.

"When the professor gets here im just going to get up, make eye contact and leave," Ryan mutters to another friend of his, Jack. 

"Right with you buddy,"

And as it turns out, that's exactly what they both did.

Now, in Ryan's short list of friends, Jack is top of the list in confiding in with his secrets, and so he is the only one of Ryan's friends to know the truth of the radio host Jeremy conspiracy. Jack thinks he's being dumb and should just make up his mind about the guy and get it over with, but that's the problem, he doesn't know what he wants. On one hand, the reunion could be just a simple selfie posted to Jeremy's Twitter with no follow up, but on the other hand, it could end up being a huge thing. Ryan really doesn't want it to be a huge thing. 

They are discussing the very topic as they amble from their class, very much half asleep still. And then Ryan sees him. Jeremy. On the other side of the quad he is walking with someone Ryan obviously doesn't recognise, all skinny, gangly limbs. He desperately tugs on Jacks arm and not so subtly points the shorter man out, whispering a frantic, "that's him! It's the guy!"

"You should talk to him!" Jack suggests,

"No! I can't do that!"

"Of course you can, here I'll even get his attention for you,"

Ryan slaps a hand over Jack's mouth and wrenches his hand down from the air in which he went to wave. "Don't you dare,"

He levels him with a challenging stare and instead, Jack goes completely limp under his hands and collapses to the ground like a Jenga tower, comically sprawled out on the grass. Ryan is concerned for a split second before the worry is replaced with irritation and a hint of betrayal. Honestly, he needs better friends.

"Hey! Is he alright?"

Refusing to look up, Ryan calls back a polite "yeah, he's fine thank you," while trying to hoist Jack back to his feet but only serving to drag his dead weight across the grass. "I hope you get grass stains you ass," he grounds out to his friend at his feet.

Using a different tactic this time, Ryan hooks his forearms under his armpits and begins to drag him, rolling his eyes as Jack let's his tongue fall from his mouth.

"Do you want a hand with your friend? You sure he's okay?"

Ryan startles this time, dropping Jack painfully to the ground and snapping his own head up to Jeremy who winces at the way Jack's head knocked on the ground.

"Holy shit it's you!" Jeremy points at him in excitement, almost bouncing on the spot.

"Ha ha, you found me," Ryan replies dryly, but it doesn't deter the younger man as he just continues to babble about all the ideas he'd thought of to track him down and how he had begun to give up and oh god - he's super cute. Oh no. Lost and drunk or even radio host Jeremy has nothing on this rambling ray of pure sunshine stood before him.

"Seriously though, is he okay?" 

Snapping his attention back to the present, Ryan glances down at Jack and nudges his shoulder with his foot, earning an annoyed groan from him. "Oh, that's Jack, he's fine, just being a bad friend,"

"I think you mispronounced wingman," Jack murmurs.

"Oh, well this is Gavin, I'm Jeremy and it's Ryan right?"

"Right, nice to meet you,"

"Oh man, this is so surreal," 

"Why's that?"

"I just never thought I'd actually find you, and you're so much prettier than I remember,"

Ryan's face flushed involuntarily at the compliment, "ah, well. You're a lot different sober,"

Wait a go Haywood, what the hell was that! That's not how you flirt with cute boys!

Jeremy laughs though. Thank god. 

"Where are you two going?" Ryan asks as Gavin and Jack seemed to have silently agreed to leave the two idiots alone.

Not signifying his question with an answer, Jack brushes off his clothes and waves them goodbye.

"Do you want… sorry if I've got the wrong idea but, would you be interested in getting some coffee?"

"I… don't actually drink coffee," way to go Ryan, you've done it again.

"Oh, that's okay, neither do I really… um,"

"But I do love milkshakes,"

Jeremy shyly smiles at Ryan's offer, seemingly bouncing back from his almost rejection. "That sounds great actually,"

…

"So I don't suppose you listen to the radio show at all?" They are sat at an outside table of a small icecream shop that is one of those hidden gems just outside the campus, sipping on milkshakes.

"Ah, yeah I have actually, I really like yours and Lindsay's segments,"

"Thanks! Sorry though, I didn't really ask if I could talk about you live on a radio network," Jeremy looks down, almost embarrassed.

"Well I mean how could you? It's fine though, I don't mind,"

"Well, this is me asking anyway. Would it be alright if we took a photo? I want to post it on twitter, you can totally say no, I understand,"

"No that's okay, can't be slack and not offer some proof now can we," Ryan tries to smile but he can feel how insincere it is. This is what he wanted though isn't it? For it to not be a huge thing? So then why does Ryan's heart ache a little?

Ryan perches behind Jeremy, one hand braced on his shoulder as he peeks his head over top to fit in the frame of the photo. Jeremy extends his arm and takes a few shots in a row before allowing Ryan to agree they were okay. Returning to his seat, Jeremy promises to post one later. 

"Would you send me one?" 

"Yeah sure, let me grab your number and I'll do it right now,"

And there you have it folks, the only way Ryan knows of to get someone's number when you're too shy to ask outright. So what if you're technically forcing them to ask for you, you still got their number. Ryan was almost waiting for Jeremy to dismiss him now but still they sat there, seemingly aimlessly talking about nothing in particular.


	4. Closeted Gay Prince

That night, Ryan lay awake and stared at the ceiling. Every now and then he would unlock his phone and look at the photo Jeremy posted to Twitter under the caption 'Guess who I found today?'. To Ryan's surprise that wasn't the only photo though, swiping to the left revealed a sneaky shot of just Ryan sipping on his milkshake, eyes angled above the lens, probably at Jeremy. And once again against his better judgement Ryan found himself saving both photos to his phone and changing his profile picture to the solo shot Jeremy had taken, going the extra mile to tweet it out with the caption 'thanks @JeremyNDooley for the new profile photo.' 

He spent about ten minutes typing and deleting a winky face but ultimately decided against it. He wasn't expecting a huge response let alone any response at all but waking the next morning to hundreds of notifications was new. At first he thought there was a serious emergency but after realising they're all from Twitter didn't do much to calm his racing heart but helped a little. Jeremy had apparently retweeted his post and people had gone mental, commenting and liking and following him. The longer he sat reading through the comments the more his head spun and eventually he just put his phone down and for the first time left it in his room while he went for a shower.

It didn't stop being surreal as the day went on, random people would stare at him as he walked by or as he sat in class before a wave of recognition graced their features, every muttered conversation felt aimed at him, one girl even asked to take a photo with him and wasn't that a bizarre feeling, normally he was ignored just like he ignored everyone else but pretty much everyone knew his name now then he was struck with an idea. He must only use this power for good. Or evil, depends on how you look at it. While he sat bored stiff at the library information desk he typed and retyped a tweet on his phone.

_ 'do you enjoy badly written rom coms where the girl gets the guy and there's always a stereotypical gay character there to make offhand comments? Well you might just be interested in the musical that is hitting the stage this August where the girl doesn't get the guy but the gay comic relief may or may not get the guy the girl is after. Come see me play a closeted gay prince in the schools adaption of Cinderella!' _

To Ryan's surprise, almost as soon as he sent the tweet Jeremy texted him.

_ Jeremy: told you you're a prince! You busy rn? _

_ Ryan: jury's still out on that one. Not really, just at work _

_ Jeremy: mind if I drop by? I should probably do some homework at some point _

_ Ryan: not at all, that's what it's here for _

Why was Jeremy asking his permission to come to the library and study? Ryan shakes his head and opens his book to where it's marked. It was an assigned book but honestly a books a book in Ryan's mind, never has he been able to bring himself to hate one. But oh boy was this one pushing it.

Although when the professor assigned the book the report to follow asked the class to write about why the book is so bad. Ryan has always found something about any book to like but so far he was struggling. Rereading the page for maybe the tenth time he was committed to get through it this time.

Ryan was just about ready to cry or throw the book across the room when Jeremy springs up to the desk. 

"Oh, Moon People, great read that one,"

"Please tell me you're joking or I simply can't allow for this friendship to continue,"

"Nah, it's a classic, real top of its class in literature,"

"Okay now I know you're joking," the grin on both their faces was easy to settle into, "is there anything I can help you find?"

"Nah I've got everything I need. Speaking of though, how well do you understand Shakespeare? I have all the translated versions but I still can't understand what the guys on about,"

"Oh yeah, totally, which one?"

And that's how Ryan ended up decoding almost an entire Shakespearian play for Jeremy and helping him to pull quotes and start a report, completely forgetting about his own book and the fact he probably had some actual work to be doing, but Jeremy is funny and explaining a poets literary ramblings from 1590 is a lot more entertaining than any actual work he could be doing.

The next time he saw Jeremy it was a great big grin that greeted him followed by the words "guess who got 92% on their Shakespeare essay!"


	5. Sing Along

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapters a bit eh.

Opening day for the Cinderella Tragedy play is rapidly approaching and Ryan is only slightly freaking out thank you very much. He only had to avoid flubbing his words, and sing in front of hundreds of people with his sub par voice for three nights and one day and then it was all over. Almost an entire year of planning and practicing finished in just over a weekend. The talking part was easy which is saying something for Ryan; he's got his lines down, perfected the placement of his voice inflections and nailed the blocking and footwork. Singing on the other hand, was way out of his element. He was not a singer by any stretch of the imagination but practicing every day seems to be helping at least a little.

It's currently a Friday night which means most of his dorm is out, providing a perfect opportunity for Ryan to belt out a few showtunes without annoying his neighbours. He is startled out of a high note by a knock at his door, his voice pitching embarrassingly. Looking through the peephole he opens the door to find Jeremy.

"Hi, sorry to just drop by, I did text you but you didn't reply and then someone held the door for me as they were leaving and now I'm here,"

"Oh, well… welcome I guess," Ryan opens the door to his room wider to allow him entry and Jeremy shyly wanders in. Jeremy has been to visit Ryan a few times before but this is definitely the first time it's been his idea, it's always been Ryan inviting him over. "I thought you'd be out like everyone else,"

"Nah, gave tonight a miss, but then someone set the smoke alarm off so my entire building has been evacuated. As far as I know there's no actual fire,"

"Oh well, that's shitty. But now we can be lonely on a Friday night together," Jeremy shoots him a grateful smile.

"Were you singing before? We should totally do karaoke!"

Singing with Jeremy is less of a competition and more of a duet, although Ryan quickly discovers, through a performance of 'Ice Ice Baby' that Jeremy is more inclined to rapping which is something Ryan definitely can't do. He was even stunned into silence when Jeremy executed a light screamo section of a song they sang on his request. 

"Is there anything you can't do?" Ryan realises he is staring at him but he is genuinely amazed.

Jeremy flushes lightly, his cheeks tinging a pink colour. "What are you even on about, look at yourself!" He deflects, "You do theatre which involves acting  _ and _ singing, you're really good at fixing computer stuff, you know how the dewey decimal system works like the back of your hand and you can understand Shakespeare! Who even are you Ryan?"

Ryans jaw drops in an attempt to reply but no words come out, Jeremy literally just listed things he likes about him, what do you even say to that?

"Not to mention you're super attractive…" it is added like an afterthought, tacked on the end almost accidentally.

"You always say that," 

"Yeah well I always mean it, prince Haywood,"

"Bleh, don't say that again. Did you know that prince charming doesn't even have a name?" He is deflecting now, changing the topic cause his body decided he doesn't like the focus on him.

"That's just lazy writing,"

"Oh and Jeremy?"

"Yeah?"

"You're super attractive as well," Ryan lacks the confidence Jeremy always seems to have when he aims the compliment at Ryan, but by the soft look on his face he doesn't think it matters. 

"Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you… wanna go on a date?"

"Yes please, I'd love to,"

"Great, how about…"

"Now? You, me, some ice cream? The place we got milkshakes at is open late Friday's,"

Ryan panics when he is met with silence.

"Sorry, you were the one to ask. What do you wanna do?"

"Ice cream sounds great," Jeremy would never admit that he had come over to Ryan's dorm to ask him out in the first place but chickened out and ended up singing karaoke instead. But somehow, through sheer force of will, they'd made a full circle. Jeremy is in true disbelief if he's honest, not only because he asked but because Ryan said yes.

"Let me just grab some shoes,"

…

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah of course,"

"Would you mind if me and a few friends came to your show in a couple weeks, I wanted to ask just in case that would make you uncomfortable,"

"Oh, I'd love if you would come actually, that would be really nice. None of my family can make it so that would mean a lot," and Ryan is not going to give in to how much more terrified that makes him, no sir.

"Awesome, thank you. Are none of your friends coming? Jack and Gavin seem to really get along, maybe we could all come on the same night?"

"I haven't actually asked them, they know I'm in the theatre class and all but I don't think they'd want to pay to see me sing, they put up with it normally as it is,"

"Nah, I'm sure they'd love to come! I'll talk to Jack and organise something, we want to support you Ryan,"

...

That night when he finally returns home, an almost permanent grin on his face he looks at his phone to see a text from Geoff.

_ Geoff: when were you going to invite us to your sing along you bitch _

_ Ryan: didn't think you'd be interested _

_ Geoff: we'll be there, don't fuck up any lines _

And yeah, maybe he doesn't need new friends. They love him even if they have a funny way of showing it.


	6. Agony

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is it folks!

The time has come. Showtime.

Rehearsal had gone well.

Dress rehearsal had gone well.

The audience is seated and the stage is dark, awaiting curtain cue.

Ryan stands off to the side of the stage, dressed in a well tailored faux royal tunic, adorned with tassels and everything. He is warming up his voice by running over lines. The rest of the cast bustles around him, excitedly chatting and putting on the final touches here and there. The show starts at 6pm but Ryan has been ready since 4pm, anxiously pacing and eating half a box of donuts, somehow avoiding staining his costume. 

"Ryan! Have you seen that crowd?"

"No, why?" Oh god, what if no one shows. Ryan knows that's not the case because almost every ticket was sold for every show, but still the doubt creeps in. 

Peeking his head out the curtain his eyes are met with a full house. Ryan can't decide if that's better or worse than no one showing.

…

Nights one and two and the day show had gone off without a hitch. Almost capacity attendance for each and minimal mistakes from the cast. But closing night had come and Ryan finds himself even more nervous than any other show he's done. All his and Jeremy's friends would be there tonight and Ryan feels sick. His hands are jittery and he can feel his heart has dropped down to his stomach, churning uncomfortably. His phone goes off and he jumps, scrambling to turn it to silent.

_ Jeremy: break a leg out there tonight, we're all here, you're gonna be great! _

The text both comforted him and stressed Ryan out. He doesn't reply, doesn't have time. It's almost curtain call and he needs to be waiting in the wings.

Jon finds him just before everything kicks off and squeezes his shoulder, "last kiss tonight, make it a good one,"

Ryan feels challenged, Jon doesn't know what he's just asked for. It solidifies something in Ryan though and suddenly he is full of energy and ready to make the crowd scream. 

…

Ryan's favourite song from the show is easily Agony, originally from Into The Woods. It's a back and forth between Ryan the prince and Jon the advisor, as Ryan sings about Cinderella, Jon sings about Ryan and by the end of the song they are singing about each other. There are subtle closeted gay jokes and when they were altering the song next to nothing had to be changed. It was pretty much perfect.

[RYAN]

Did I abuse her

Or show her disdain?

Why does she run from me?

If I should lose her,

How shall I regain,

The heart she has won from me? 

Agony!

Beyond power of speech,

When the one thing you want

Is the only thing out of your reach. 

[JON]

High in his tower,

He sits by the hour,

Maintaining his hair.

Blithe and becoming and frequently humming

A lighthearted air:

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah- Agony!

Far more painful than yours,

When you know he would go with you

If there only were doors.

[BOTH]

Agony!

Oh, the torture they teach! 

[JON]

What's as intriguing- 

[RYAN]

Or half so fatiguing- 

[BOTH]

As what's out of reach? 

[RYAN]

Am I not sensitive,

Clever,

Well-mannered,

Considerate,

Passionate,

Charming,

As kind as I'm handsome

And heir to a throne? 

[JON]

You are everything maidens could wish for! 

[RYAN]

Then why no-? 

[JON]

Do I know? 

[RYAN]

The girl must be mad! 

[JON]

You know nothing of madness

Till you're climbing the stairs

And you see him up there

As you're nearing him,

All the while hearing his:

Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah- 

[BOTH]

Agony! 

[RYAN]

Misery! 

[JON]

Woe! 

[BOTH]

Though it's different for each. 

[RYAN]

Always ten steps behind- 

[JON]

Always ten feet below- 

[BOTH]

And he's just out of reach.

Agony

That can cut like a knife! I must have him to wife.

The song finishes with Ryan and Jon in an embrace, about to kiss but they quickly break apart when they realise what was happening. 

By the end of the performance, the last song where they confess their love and kiss to end the show it's Ryan's time to follow through with Jon's challenge. While the kiss is normally sweet and long what Ryan does instead is pull Jon into a dip and kisses him that way. But as Ryan rights them back to standing Jon vaults himself into Ryan's arms and advances the kiss to full blown making out. Ryan catches him, only stumbling a little and carries him off stage, blindly navigating. The crowd goes absolutely wild, there's cheering and screaming and whistling and when Ryan looks back he sees the stage littered with roses he suspects Jeremy had something to do with. 

"You reckon that made your man jealous?" Jon remarks after he is reunited with the ground.

"I don't know what you're talking about,"

"Uh huh, if he doesn't kiss the life out of you when he sees you I don't know what the point of that was,"

"So you're saying you didn't just make out with me cause you wanted to?"

"I mean, of course I did, but I also know that you're pining after your little radio host Cinderella,"

Ryan doesn't dignify his teasing with an answer because the cast return to the stage for their final bow and send off.

…

After the show is a bit surreal, Ryan is changed back into regular clothes, makeup is wiped clean from his skin and his hair sticks up at odd angles from remaining hair spray. And as tired as he is he's never felt more alive as he does when he sees Jeremy pushing through the crowd and running towards him.

"Ryan! Oh my god you were so good, that was amazing I can't believe -"

It feels so good to kiss someone he truly loves, finally. Secretly he can't help but be a bit thankful to Jon for all the practice, but he'd never admit that out loud to anyone as long as he lived. Cutting off Jeremy used the last of his showtime confidence so when he pulls back he is especially nervous. 

"Would you kiss me like you did on stage?"

"Absolutely," and Ryan dips Jeremy and they share the sweetest kiss, someone maybe wolf whistles nearby but he couldn't say for sure, all he knows is Jeremy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading my late night rambling!


End file.
